Put On Your Dancing Shoes

Dear friends,

One of the Bible’s amazing truths is that, as children of God, we can triumph over sorrow. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently as I prepared for, and then officiated at, the funeral of a friend who recently passed away. As I processed the loss with his family, the Lord has given great comfort in the promise He gives in Psalms 30:11-12, which says: “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!”

This is actually one of my favorite promises in the Bible, because it reminds us that God will help us through the feelings of loss and pain that are such a part of life. However, it’s important to keep in mind what He doesn’t promise to do: God won’t simply stop our mourning and make it disappear. Instead, He transforms it. In other words, God takes the emotion that feels overwhelming to us - our sorrow - and He turns it into gladness. So He takes what’s painful or difficult, and turns it into something that’s actually good for us.

And what I’ve discovered over the years, is that this is something God does in other areas of our lives as well. He takes what Satan means for bad in our lives, and uses it for our good. So He can take our failures and bring success out of them. He can take disappointments, and turn them into blessings. And He can take pain, and bring joy from it. The Apostle Paul describes it like this in Romans 8:28: “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him.” Often people quote that verse, but stop after the word “good.” But Paul clarifies that this promise is for those who love God. So what that means for believers is that we need to stay close to Him and surrender to His plans for us - while at the same time, trusting Him to do what He's promised to do.

As we look at the difficult things in our lives, we have to keep in mind that - if we belong to God - we will not be overcome. Those challenging or painful things in our lives are simply raw materials for God to use in a divine transformation. Our part is simply to trust, believe, and cling tightly to His wonderful promises.

So today, let’s take time to dwell on the truth of God’s transformational promises. Then let’s surrender our sorrows, disappointments, tragedies, and failures to God - asking Him to bring good from them…and trusting that He will.

Amen?

Daniel